Sean Spicer, Laura Ingraham Go After Tom Hanks for Trump Comments

Hanks told THR that he wouldn't attend a White House screening of his new film.

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer and Fox News star Laura Ingraham are none too pleased with actor Tom Hanks for saying that he wouldn't be in favor of a White House screening of his timely new film, The Post.

"I don't think I would," Hanks said when asked by The Hollywood Reporter if he'd attend such a screening with President Trump, should they invite him. "Look, I didn't think things were going to be this way last November. I would not have been able to imagine that we would be living in a country where neo-Nazis are doing torchlight parades in Charlottesville and jokes about Pocahontas are being made in front of the Navajo code talkers."

On her show on Wednesday night, Ingraham pounced. "One of America's favorite actors is insulting the president, just to sell his movie" she said. Ingraham remarked that Hanks "flops as a political commentator and pundit." She closed with a reference to his starring role in the 2000 movie Cast Away. "Maybe it's time to cast away Tom Hanks," she said with a smirk.

Spicer, who has been a more regular presence on Fox News lately as he begins promoting his forthcoming book, was asked about Hanks' comments in a Thursday morning interview on Fox Business Network. "I think the idea that it's become cool to say I won't even show up to see the president of the United States is a sad commentary on where we are," he said.

Spicer said that Hanks should "take the lead" and initiate a conversation with the president about the issues — like press freedom — that were discussed in his movie, which focuses on the Post's decision to publish the Pentagon Papers.

He also said he'd be happy to mow Barack Obama's lawn if the former president called him up today and asked him to do so. Spicer's book, The Briefing, comes out next summer.